Social media, other tools help cops find missing persons

By Natalie Allison Janicello / Times-News

Published: Friday, August 30, 2013 at 05:48 PM.

The department’s policy for missing persons under 21, in compliance with the National Child Search Assistance Act of 1990, requires an officer to enter the reported person’s information into the NCIC database within two hours of receiving all the required information. Additionally, the officer working the case must issue a “be on the lookout” broadcast to other area agencies, Petty said.

After preliminary reports are made, investigators follow up with the complainant in the case. Petty said the department got information on the car Shinafelt was believed to be driving and entered the tag information into NCIC’s system. Through a delayed inquiry notification system, the department can see any place a missing person’s tag was run in the past seven days and receive alerts any time it is run again — one of the ways the agency attempts to find locations on people who are missing.

He said when looking for juveniles or younger adults, the process of tracking them largely falls back to social media when there is no cellphone or credit card to track.

“With juveniles, we’re going to look for Facebook and Instagram friends and use the social media aspect of it,” Petty said. “We go to schools and interview close friends and family and search our records system to see who they’ve been involved with in past.”

Petty said officers learned Shinafelt’s tag had been looked up by Las Vegas Metropolitan police on August 21, and then on August 24, got a call saying the couple had been pulled over by a trooper on Interstate 10 in Tucson, Ariz. for having a cracked windshield.

Once Burlington police or another law enforcement agency makes contact with a missing person face-to-face and confirms he or she is safe and in good health, the department can close the case. Petty said officers usually ask the person to call home and let family know everything is OK, but anyone over the age of 18 has the right to refuse. He said the Arizona trooper asked Shinafelt and Marek to call their parents, and the pair complied.

“Every case is different, but that person is someone’s loved one,” Petty said. “There’s no criteria for being a missing person, be it someone has been gone for one hour or one day. We respond to all of those the same way.”

When Burlington police confirmed the location of Stephanie Shinafelt and Dakota Marek earlier this month, they had, within a few days of receiving reports, closed the missing persons case for the pair of 19-year-olds — something its investigative division proudly says is pretty standard for their agency.

Lt. Brian Long said that so far in 2013, the department has had 138 reported missing person cases, and three of those are still being investigated. According to Long, in the cases that are still open, officers or the person’s family have made contact with the missing person, who doesn’t want to come home.

“All the ones we currently have appear to be adults who are voluntarily missing,” he said.

Cpl. Brian Petty said in the case of Shinafelt and Marek, the couple’s families hadn’t heard from them for a couple weeks before reporting them missing to the police department.

Stephanie Shinafelt’s father, Robert Shinafelt, had last spoken to his daughter at 5 p.m. Aug. 8 when she was at the Red Carpet Inn on Plantation Drive in Burlington. She had asked her dad if she could meet up and talk with him the next day but never showed — an occurrence her dad said was fairly common, Petty said.

On Aug. 20, after getting in touch with Stephanie’s mother in Myrtle Beach, Marek’s family and the couple’s friends, Robert Shinafelt reported his daughter missing. Perry said he entered Stephanie Shinafelt into the National Crime Information Center missing persons database not long after receiving the report from her father, per Burlington Police Department’s policy. Marek’s mother reported him missing the next day, and he was also entered as a missing person.

Petty said for every missing person report the agency receives, they start investigating the situation immediately.

The department’s policy for missing persons under 21, in compliance with the National Child Search Assistance Act of 1990, requires an officer to enter the reported person’s information into the NCIC database within two hours of receiving all the required information. Additionally, the officer working the case must issue a “be on the lookout” broadcast to other area agencies, Petty said.

After preliminary reports are made, investigators follow up with the complainant in the case. Petty said the department got information on the car Shinafelt was believed to be driving and entered the tag information into NCIC’s system. Through a delayed inquiry notification system, the department can see any place a missing person’s tag was run in the past seven days and receive alerts any time it is run again — one of the ways the agency attempts to find locations on people who are missing.

He said when looking for juveniles or younger adults, the process of tracking them largely falls back to social media when there is no cellphone or credit card to track.

“With juveniles, we’re going to look for Facebook and Instagram friends and use the social media aspect of it,” Petty said. “We go to schools and interview close friends and family and search our records system to see who they’ve been involved with in past.”

Petty said officers learned Shinafelt’s tag had been looked up by Las Vegas Metropolitan police on August 21, and then on August 24, got a call saying the couple had been pulled over by a trooper on Interstate 10 in Tucson, Ariz. for having a cracked windshield.

Once Burlington police or another law enforcement agency makes contact with a missing person face-to-face and confirms he or she is safe and in good health, the department can close the case. Petty said officers usually ask the person to call home and let family know everything is OK, but anyone over the age of 18 has the right to refuse. He said the Arizona trooper asked Shinafelt and Marek to call their parents, and the pair complied.

“Every case is different, but that person is someone’s loved one,” Petty said. “There’s no criteria for being a missing person, be it someone has been gone for one hour or one day. We respond to all of those the same way.”